Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fiesta Friday- Bee is for Birthday!



Saturday was a fabulous day!

We celebrated my mom's big birthday and it was soooo much fun. My sister, a few of Mom's girlfriends and I hosted Queen Bea's Surprise Birthday Jubilee! The party brought together a group of amazing women from across the country who have been awesome friends to Mom over the years. It was a great afternoon and so much fun visiting with old friends and new. Boy was she surprised!!!




The theme was bees and circles representing Mom's circle of friends. The party room was decorated in white and shades of yellow, which just happened to match my dining room! (No, I didn't paint the walls to match, Silly Miss Sillypants). Round paper lanterns, honeycomb-style paper globes and handmade tissue paper flowers hung from the ceiling above the food table and in the corners of the den.




I made different sizes of tissue paper flowers for the decorations and corsages (corsage tutorial can be found here).  All the ladies wore yellow corsages and the hostesses wore pretty white ones dipped in glitter.




My bright Easter table cloth was perfect and I found a beautiful embroidered organza to use as a table runner. The fabric store had only 4 feet left, but I had to have it! So, I cut it in half lengthwise and draped it over the table. I wanted to use a sheer fabric to cover the entire table, but the table runner worked just fine. I mainly wanted the white cloth to make the flower pots pop since they were the same color of the yellow cloth. I hid the raw edges under a big pot in the middle. I'll hem it later!




The flower arrangements were another brilliant find! I found the flower pots for $3.99! They had two different sizes and I thought the smaller ones really resembled honey pots, so I bought a bunch of those. I was so excited I almost jumped up and down in the middle of the garden section of Walmart! Then, I wandered over to the floral department (because I was running out of time to go to the flower market downtown) and found these beautiful yummy smelling white flowers. I was looking for daisies, but these were much better and they didn't have many daisies anyway. I'm telling you, serendipity!




For nibbles, we served a beautiful fruit salad with poppy seed dressing and mini quiches. The gorgeous cupcakes and bonbons were made by one of the hostess bees who makes delicious and amazing desserts! I made the other sweets, cajeta cookies, pan de polvo and super easy peasy lemon tarts all of which were gobbled up. I think I had only 10 cookies left for my husband and dad! (Recipes coming.) My husband (the willing cocktail master) concocted a special cocktail which I named "Bea's Nectar"; those too, were gobbled up (I can say that because there was a cherry at the bottom.) We also served lemonade and sweet tea. This is Texas after all!




Because the party was for Queen Bea, I couldn't have her walking around without a crown! So, I found a tiara at the bridal department of Michael's and glued on (with E6000) a fuzzy bee from the floral department! I also scattered some of those little bees among the flowers just for fun.




I found the pretty white frames and several white ceramic serving pieces at Marshall's Home Goods. They were a steal. I think the highest price I paid was about $20 for the large serving bowl! I've got white ceramic platters out the wazoo! The next party I host will have to include the color white! (Note to self: host a fiesta to use the yellow lanterns again.) I scanned in some of Mom's beautimous portraits for the girly frou frou frames so her guests could ooh and ahh at her sheer gorgeousness. Everyone loved trying to guess her age in each of the pictures. "Well, she's wearing a flip in this one...the one with the little bob just has to be Jr. High..."




My sister made fun party favors with cute little jars and yellow Jelly Bellys-one of Mom's faves. She also made fabulous baskets for the door prize winners filled with loads of Burt's Bees products and a yummy candle. She even sewed a little bee onto the baskets! The biggest basket went to the party game winner- the one who knew the most facts of Queen Bea's life. (Q- Where did Bea meet Victor? A- At the Hurry Burger. Dad flipped hamburgers and Mom was the shake girl.)

One of Mom's pressies was a beautiful Brighton bracelet that everyone contributed to. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were large letter medallions on it that read FAITH. Mom said that was the icing on the cake!




Last but certainly not least, I made a pretty framed piece of art for all her friends to sign. Again, it represented the great circle of friends who love and support Mom. It was deceivingly simple to make. Don't tell Mom! (Tutorial coming soon.)




So, the party was a huge success and Mom has more fun memories of time spent with her circle of friends. A special thanks to the hostess bees! Besos, besos!

Tutorial links:
Paper Carnation Corsages
Luscious Lemon Tarts

Bee is for Birthday was featured on Simply Creative Insanity, The Creative Party Place, Creative Hostess, A Few of my Favorite Things, One Pretty Thing, Tweedle Dee Designs, Australia Entertains, The Tom Kat Studio, Design Dazzle, Peach Pizzazz, Birthday Girl, Divine Party Concepts, Fun Favors, Hey Little Birdie, From Kays to Wilson and ModEco Kids. Thank you, chickadees! Everyone's crazy for bees!

31 comments:

  1. WOW! What an amazing party! I would love to feature you this week! I will let you know when it is up!! Do you mind if I borrow the pictures and tell the world how wonderful and creative you are?
    I am in Texas too! I am definately a follower!

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  2. You sure can borrow the pictures! Thanks for the love. :) I went to SMU!

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  3. I found you via SCI. This is such a beautiful party!

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  4. This is just the cutest party theme I've ever seen! Love it.

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  5. Absolutely beautiful! I bet your mom felt so very special. (We're in the middle of developing a "B" is for baby shower and would love to share this perfect party with our readers as inspiration.)

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  6. OMG. Such a cute party idea! I LOVE the bees on the cupcakes. Gotta steal that idea soon! :)
    Cheers!
    Corinne

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  7. Awesome theme! The bees on the "flowers" are my fav!

    Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com

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  8. The decorations are so beautiful - may I ask where you found those tissue lanterns/decorations hanging from the ceiling? I'm throwing a baby shower and those would be absolutely perfect!

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  9. Hi Miss Jess :)
    I bought the lanterns at Michael's. They had them in the dollar aisle. You can also get them at orientaltrading.com and partycity.com. I also recently found paperlanternstore.com that has an enormous collection, but I've never ordered from them.

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  10. Gorgeous party! I'm obsessed with the Queen Bee crown! I linked on my Daisy inspiration post and just linked on my FB page!

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  11. Gorgeous Party! I love everything. I love the bee you glue on the crown:)

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  12. This is so great! I love the flower pots, they are perfect!

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  13. Really great! I did a bee themed party in January and I would have killed to have those honey-pot planters!

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  14. WOW - gorgeous party!! Can you tell me how you hung all the pom poms and lanterns from the ceiling?
    Thetis

    http://www.littlesooti.blogspot.com

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  15. Sure. I used fishing line and flat thumb tacks. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

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  16. This is the cutest party I have ever seen! I'm going to become a follower!

    LOVE it!

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  17. Oh I just love this, this is the sweetest party ever. I love how you have old photos framed! What a great theme!

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  18. I love this party! My mom's name is B'Ann, and all her friends call her Bea. She is a nurse and I just picked up a stuffed Bee dressed as a nurse. I will have to throw her this party for her birthday!

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  19. There are so many cute bee parties on blogworld and yours is one of them.I'm doing one for my daughter and those yellow straw baskets are great for favors;may I ask where you got them please?
    Thks,
    Shira

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  20. Love the whole bee idea! Where did your sister find the yellow door prize baskets?

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  21. OK, chickadees! I checked with my sister and she got the yellow baskets at Hobby Lobby.

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  22. You are a fabulous daughter and your mom is one lucky Bee.

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  23. I am throwing a ba-bee shower for my sister...and would love to know where you got all the little bees you put in the flowers??
    Thanks for all the pics! I have truly been inspired!

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  24. Hi! Nice to meet ya!
    I found the fuzzy bees in the floral area of Michael's (or Hobby Lobby, I can't remember which). They were with the little feather birds and butterflies that are used in flower arrangements. Good luck and thanks for checking out my blog!

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  25. wow you are CREATIVE!! :)

    I love everything, im hosting a baby shower for my sister and im going to use tons of your ideas :) but.. i want the tutorial of the tissue paper flowers and the pretty framed piece of art *OR ARE THESE ALREADY POSTED AND I CAN NOT FIND THEM?* Please advise..

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  26. When is your shower? I need to get on those tutorials!

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  27. november 16th :( probably to short of a notice... but if you can tell me more or less some steps that would be great... heres my email, and thanks again mardiamcoronado@gmail.com

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  28. Hi I found you through Tip Junkie Party ideas. I'm now following you and am going to grab your button. Would love if you follow back and grab my button as well for both my blogs. I love this Party theme, What a fun idea.

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  29. Hi, everyone! I finally uploaded the tutorial on the tissue paper flower corsages Sorry it took so long! :p

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